cybersecurity

Don’t Get Tricked

As I write this up, it is the last day of “National Cyber Security Awareness Month” as well as Halloween, so I thought it would be the perfect time to do one last pitch for being Cyber Security Aware.

As you get ready to put on your (or help your child put on their) costume – remember, you aren’t the only one out there pretending to be someone else.  There are many hackers, pretenders and “bad actors” pretending to be someone or something else.  The act of pretending to be someone or something you are not is a tactic many cyber criminals have used since the Internet began.  This can be called “spoofing” or sometimes called a “phishing attack” – with the with real and scary intention to get access to your personal information, or to do harm to a computer network.

What is it, and Why do I care?

Phishing and Spoofing are very similar, in that they are trying to get you to do something based on fake or forged documents or information.  “Spoofing is the dissemination of the email from a “spoofed” (or FAKE) email address, and phishing is often used in conjunction with a spoofed email. Phishing is the act of sending an email falsely claiming to be from an established legitimate business to trick the recipient into divulging personal, sensitive information such as passwords, credit card numbers, and bank account numbers.” (This description from the Department of Homeland Security, and you can learn more from the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3))

These types of attacks can be hard to detect – and in many cases, a “spoofed” email can look very real  So, how do you tell?

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Cyber Security and You

So, do I have your attention now? How many of you knew where that quote (“Keep it Secret, Keep it Safe”) came from, and just wanted to read an article about “Lord of the Rings?” 🙂

Sorry to disappoint, but this post is all about Cyber Security. I know, boring stuff, but October is Cyber Security Awareness Month, and helping people use technology, and use it safely, has been my passion for a while now.

And, let’s face it, today so much of our lives are connected to some sort of digital device, as well as the information on them; it makes sense to put some protections in place to keep your information secret, and to keep it safe. That’s why I partnered with the Town of Cary Police Department to recognize and support October as Cyber Security Awareness Month, and also why our Police department works hard to protect you with an impressive Cyber Crime unit.

First, some chilling numbers

Whether you are at work, at home, school – every part of our lives now has a connection to the Internet.

Did you know that…

– Someone becomes a victim of cyber crime every 18 seconds
– Cyber crime costs an average of nearly $200 per victim
– Mobile device vulnerabilities doubled in 2011 from 2010
40% of social network users have been victims of cyber crime on a social networking site
1 in 4 people received notification by a business, online service provider, or organization that their personally identifiable information (password, credit card number, email addres, etc.) was lost or compromised because of a data breach
 (Source: Symantec and National Cyber Security Alliance)

Read More…

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